Afunakwa leaned on her cane and turned her head towards the sky. Her vision wasn't what it used to be, but she thought she could make out a small spec drifting above, rising and falling with currents. For a moment she paused and remembered what it was like to ride the wind as a bird, free from the ground.
Looking back up, the crow was closer now, circling down to the wind swept mesa of Thunder Bluff. She pulled her cloak tighter and walked back inside her tent to wait for him.
** * * *
"Welcome back little one." the old tauren addressed the tauren male how entered the tent. The figure could not help but smile at the name even as he towered above her.
They exchanged greetings.
"What did you find in the frozen lands of the North, little Sulthar?"
"It is much as we heard, mother. There is much fighting still, but it seems the Lich King is defeated. A time for great rejoicing."
Akunafwa nodded. "I had felt it. The land, although still terribly wounded, feels as if a great evil has begun to lift from it. I had not thought to see this day in my life. A great time Sulthar, a great time."
The old tauren nodded and closed her eyes a moment, deep in thought. The younger male did not interupt her reverie.
"But this is only the beginning of the task before our tribe. I feel a great change coming upon us. Tonight you must travel beyond the veil and hear the wisdom of our ancestors. I have made the preparations for the vision quest. But first come, the others will want to welcome you home."
Sulthar nodded, knowing the night would be a long one.
* * * * *
The vision had come strongly to him. Unlike other occassions, where he had spent months trying to fathom meaning from what he had seen, this time he was certain.
He had been a tree, rooted to the ground in a barren wasteland. But even as the land looked to be dying, the sun shone upon it and him, and he felt stronger. He felt his roots grow and the land seemed to change around him, it's lifelessness replaced slowly by a natural splendor. He saw shapes move amongst the land... first animals then eventually humanoids. Tauren, orcs, troll, even the humans, dwarves and others.
The vision continued for some time. Eventually Sulthar began to notice not all the humans seemed well. As he looked at them closely he realised they were not human at all, but Forsaken. They crouched and crawled in agony, some were vomiting, others shrieking in pain. Even worse others tore blindly at the ground around them, faces contorted in rage. In a moment of clarity he understood. Their curse was not lifted, damnation was still their fate. They would not recover like the land.
With this realisation the vision began to fade, and Sulthar was left alone.
* * * * *
The next day Afunakwa returned to Sulthar's tent, where she had left him to undertake the ritual. As she slowly studied his face in the dim glow of the fire, she noticed something that had not been there before. A determination, a sense of purpose. Nothing was said for sometime. Eventually Sulthar rose.
"There is work to be done. We travel beyond Mulgore and help heal the land." He paused a moment. "And finally we must find a cure for the Forsaken."
Subject: The Stormsinger Tribe 
